History Fisch Asset Management
2010
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2010 was a challenging year for investors. While most products exhibited a very attractive positive return at the end of the year, this is by no means indicative of the volatile development of the markets over the course of the year. Against the backdrop of a battered global financial system and the special situation for the euro and Europe, the markets fought their way through nerve-racking swings in emotion. In this difficult environment, convertibles held up in general, and our asset management was very successful in particular. Following our success in 2009, our highly ambitious performance targets were also fulfilled in 2010. That holds true for the pure convertible products as well as for the investment funds in the areas of bonds, absolute return and CTA.
A particular highlight was the launch of the Fisch Bond Value IG Fund, which was realised within a few weeks in early 2010. Our company thus manages one of the world’s first investment funds in the emerging market investment grade area. The fund did extraordinarily well. Performance and volume (CHF 220 million) exceeded our high expectations.
The new money acquired in 2010 amounts to nearly a billion Swiss francs. Assets under management (AuM) rose by a healthy 20% to CHF 4.6 billion at the end of the year. We are proud of this growth in AuM in view of the strong Swiss franc, which caused portfolios with the euro (-15%) and the US dollar (-7%) as base currencies to lose significant value.
Our focus as a manager of convertibles globally reached a new high point in 2010. Over the nearly three years of rewarding cooperation with Schroders, we have gained a stronger foothold in the Asia region. Successful business acquisition in this growth region, also versus top competitors, underscores the effectiveness of the Schroders-Fisch teamwork. We also view this success as a result of our efforts to become one of the leading convertibles managers in the world. With a qualitatively and numerically strong team, a world-class credit research group and a unique investment process, we satisfy the highest demands today. Meanwhile, Fisch manages convertibles in the amount of CHF 1.5 billion in Asia alone. As a sign of the long-term nature of the cooperation between Schroders and Fisch, the English company acquired a 10% stake in our firm in autumn.
Over the course of the year, our team grew in various areas. Vlad Balas joined the team Trade Execution / Middle Office. Alexander Bischoff became a member of Marketing & Sales for Swiss clients. Stephanie Deutschmann strengthened Portfolio Management. And finally Jacky Tam joined System Administration and Bruno Zemp became am member of Sales.
Our social events proved to be enjoyable highlights in 2010. All the participants in the ski weekend had to make their way though a veritable snowstorm to enjoy the annual weekend of physical exertion. The pleasurable three-day family outing in autumn, involving sports, boat rides and wellness, took place at a location outside of Switzerland for the first time, in Badenweiler in Germany’s Black Forest. And finally, we celebrated Christmas with an evening featuring classical music and a Santa Claus in the Blumenhalle in one of Zurich’s livelier neighbourhoods.
Despite the challenging environment, we are confident at year-end that we are well prepared for the challenges ahead. With an eye on these high demands, we remain alert and level-headed. At the same time, we feel able and ready to do exceptional work for our clients in 2011.
2009
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2009 saw even very experienced and durable investors exposed to a never seen before time of switching emotions. The start of the year led to a complete sale in all markets. Mid of March, the valuation of the markets was leveraged into a global catastrophe. The following recovery led to an exceptionally strong year for investors. Our managed funds and mandates showed very high returns by year-end. But not only our absolute performance was convincing in the past year. No less than 79% of our products outperformed – even after deducting costs – their relevant benchmarks. The strong performance of our asset management resulted in a considerable growth of our assets under management (AuM).
2009 we launched 3 new products. This is a record number in our business history. In May we incepted our first sustainable convertible fund after a remarkably short preparation period. The Fisch CB Sustainable Fund invests globally into convertibles of sustainable corporations. The relevant screening for sustainability is managed by the Bank Sarasin, the leading specialst in this area. In June the Fisch CTA Diversified Fund followed onto the list. This fund invests into successful CTA/Managed Futures strategies with a long track record and is a very important part of a diversification strategy in times of weak markets. Finally after a long preparation period, we started the Fisch MultiAbsoluteValue Manta Fund. The fund, which is the basis for our own coporate pension fund, invests in all parts of the investment universe. With an optimal diversification and the systemic exploitation of risk premiums, the fund aims for an asymetric behaviour. The goal is positive performance also in weak times and markets. The fund value of these 3 in mid year launched funds per year-end was CHF 160mio.
This once-in-a-lifetime baisse led to a lot of additional work for our marketing & sales team. Our clients deserved a more complex and more intense explanation of the actions and situations at the markets. Analytic work covered a lot of time. Thanks to the bold recovery of the markets and the improved performance the analytic work became more and more easy. IT achieved in 2009 a very high goal. The per quarter mutually agreed project portfolio was fulfilled several times in a row. Portfolio management as well as risk management did benefit from that positive development with new helpful tools. We were very happy with the feedback of our audit which commented on our level of risk management as being strongly above average.
In 2009 we are also able to welcome Stephen J. Mills in the Board of Directors. As CEO of Schroder Investment Management (Switzerland) AG his attendance on the Board of Directors documents the long-term cooperation between Schroders and Fisch Asset Management. The two Schroders Convertible Bond Funds managed by Fisch (Schroders ISF Global CB Fund and Asian CB Fund) started in a difficult market environment (in spring 2008). By end of 2009 the two funds held assets of CHF 370m.
In March we were able to welcome Karina Kaatz in our team, she supports our Sales Team for Germany. Florina Schmid started her 3 year apprenticeship in August.
As always once in the winter time, all employees (without significant others) of FAM came together for the exhausting skiweekend and in autumn (significant others included) we met in Montreux for a 3 day weekend. In December finally we celebrated our Xmas party in festive style at the guild house „zur Meise“ . Those events are part of many tesseraes in the course of building the painting that should illustrate our company. After the successful mastering of this once-in-a-century crisis we as a company look forward full of confidence to tackle our next tasks.
2008
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2008 was an exceptional year in many respects. In spite of the turbulent financial market conditions, we added 12 new employees. Dr. Patrick Gügi began in spring as a product manager and took over the position of CEO as of mid-year. In Asset Management, we welcomed the two senior portfolio managers Stefan Meyer and Dr. Peter Reinmuth as well as the asset management analyst Hannes Boller. Roman Walter, who came on board as a senior partner, runs the Multi Asset Class Absolute Return area. In Middle Office, Reto Ormos joined us as part of the Trading & Execution team. Adriano Ettlin, also a senior partner, took charge of our Human Resources area in order to professionally manage FAM’s growing personnel needs. Marketing & Sales hired Audrey Massie , and Legal & Organisation welcomed Manuel De Tommasi. As a result of the integration of Bluesky Softworks into FAM, Philippe Streiff and Peter Bartholet joined our IT team at the start of the year. Finally, Nicolas Hauser began his three-year apprenticeship in our firm early in the year.
It was a very disappointing year for the financial markets in 2008. Convertible bonds were no exception. Influenced by special factors, this sector also suffered sharp setbacks. The performance thus had a clearly negative impact on assets under management. Convertible bond valuations fell steadily over the course of the year, reaching an exceptionally attractive price level in late autumn. This led to a clear inflow of new money in the last two months of 2008.
With a total of 40 employees, our firm has taken the leading position among the convertible bond specialists in Europe. We devoted a great amount of energy during the year to developing and arranging our organisational structure more efficiently. The optimized organisational structure, with clear processes, will enable us to exploit the clear economies of scale as a distinct competitive advantage.
FAM’s stated strategic focus is as follows: Fisch equals convertible bonds and asymmetry. Hence, FAM wants to be known as a firm that offers its clients various asset class strategies whose content is always linked with our convertible bond know-how and always embodies the typical asymmetric price behavior of convertible bonds. With this in mind, we offer bond-like products such as the FISCH Hybrid CHF for bond strategies and we offer equity funds such as the FISCH Japan Fund as an equity strategy. Furthermore, before year-end we completed the preparations that will allow us to launch a multi asset class absolute return product already in early 2009.
The significant efforts in the IT area in 2008 culminated in the successful introduction of the project FischTank (formerly Phoenix). Our systems, which are based entirely on proprietary software, thus meet the highest demands. At the same time, they allow us to implement our investment strategy in a time-saving and professional manner. For our clients, we are in a position to set up a tailored reporting system on short notice.
We continue to set the bar high with respect to fostering our corporate culture. In addition to many other things, this also includes our annual internal company events, which play a particularly important role in difficult times. A ski weekend, a two-and-a-half-day big summer outing with the whole family as well as the elegant Christmas gathering were the most notable events in 2008.
2007
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FAM grew rapidly in 2007. A total of 10 new employees joined the existing team over the course of the year. The biggest increase came in the asset management area. The two senior portfolio managers Philipp Good and Dr. Klaus Göggelmann strengthen the value and convertible segments respectively. Marco Müller has come on board as the first pure analyst. Urs Reiter has taken charge of the middle office. In the sales area, Stefan Stucki joined us as a director of sales & relationship management. He will head the sales team. Nicole Wyss started working for us as a marketing support assistant, and Daniela Suter as a sales assistant. Prisca Benedetto joined the administration team. And finally, the IT specialists Dr. Oliver Marchand and Alexander Houben add important know-how to our software development. The rising number of employees reflects the increasing demands placed on our growing company. And this trend continues. In view of the integration of BlueSky Softworks AG into FAM as well as additional requirements, we have already hired 7 new employees as of the first quarter of 2008. They will reinforce us in the asset management, office management, products, human resources and IT areas.
A significant event in 2007 was our move to a new office location in the Seefeld district of Zurich. The striking office building at the edge of the lake offers us a high-quality and very comfortable new home. We have quickly settled into this new headquarters.
Growth of assets under management normalized again following the unusually sharp increases of the previous two years. AuM amounted to CHF 4.5 billion at the end of the year. Our products largely fulfilled the performance expectations. The benchmark difficulty was resolved satisfactorily at the end of the year by the benchmark provider.
The teamwork with English asset manager Schroders represents an important milestone in the history of FAM. The globally active, long-established company selected us as the external manager of their newly introduced convertibles asset class. Through the launch of various convertible bond funds, Schroders intends to target a large number of markets in which we do not operate.
Initiation of the new IT project Phoenix was delayed. It has been scheduled for the end of the first quarter of 2008. The high demands relating to this project also had another consequence: BlueSky Softworks AG, in which we hold a minority interest, will be integrated into FAM at the beginning of 2008 and no longer provides any products to external clients. We are therefore very well positioned in the IT area, which we view as a key factor for our long-term success.
2006
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2006 was another very successful year for Fisch Asset Management. The robust growth of assets under management to more than CHF 4 billion required us to strengthen our organisation at various levels. Six new employees joined us over the course of the year, and we are already in the process of adding more personnel. As a result, our current office space is no longer sufficient for our needs. We will therefore move into a newly constructed office building the Seefeld district of Zurich in mid-2007.
The FISCH Bond Value Fund was launched in the first quarter of 2006. This Swiss fund recorded its first NAV on January 24th, with a volume of EUR 35.54 million. At the end of the year, the fund had a volume of EUR 54 million and a price of 105.45%. Our diversification into the realm of value products thus got off to a very successful start.
Our swift growth required us to bolster personnel in various areas. In April, Bernice Landolt joined us as a marketing assistant. At the beginning of May, Angela Eder started working for us as an office management assistant and Olivier Widmer took over as our webmaster. Two more new employees began working for us in August: Andreas Weber in the middle office area and Ilona Vinichenko as an apprentice. And in November, Dr. Martin Kühle joined our firm as a senior sales & relationship manager.
Successful new business acquisition brought us a number of new mandates in Switzerland. We won various customers in germany as a result of several inquiries on behalf of the consulting industry. The increased regulatory requirements for fonds in Luxembourg due to the UCITS III implementation prompted us to apply for securities dealer status in fall of 2005. At the end of March, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA, formerly Swiss Federal Banking Commission) approved us as a securities dealer. We therefore completely fulfill the increased regulatory requirements.
At the end of December, we took over the Luxembourg investment fund company that manages a number of our Luxembourg-based funds. This step gives us more independence and additional opportunities in the development of the European fund business. The takeover required the approval of Luxembourg’s financial regulatory commission (CSSF). The fact that we received this approval means that we are also recognized by Luxembourg’s CSSF.
During all of 2006, our IT area worked closely together with BlueSky Softworks on implementing the Phoenix project. This major project, scheduled for completion in mid-2007, will enhance the entire software platform.
Our asset management performance was mixed in 2006. Following the exceptionally successful performance in 2005, the hybrid convertible bond strategy produced a slightly below-average performance. In contrast, the conservative strategy of Hybrid CHF achieved a sensationally good result. The very active approach of TOPportunities and the bond value product also produced extraordinarily good results for the year.
2005
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2005 was an exceptional year for FAM in many respects. For the first time, a total of four new employees joined us. Peter Jeggli and Daniel Pfister , the founders of Independent Credit View AG , took charge of our credit research activities in spring and will manage the FISCH Bond Value product scheduled for launch in early 2006 following preparations in the second half of 2005. Reto Baumgartner joined us in summer, strengthening the IT department. And in December, the asset management area also welcomed a new employee, Manuel De Tommasi.
In both absolute terms and relative to the industry, our products achieved exceptionally high outperformance in 2005. Thanks to this environment, assets under management developed very favorably, breaking through the CHF 2 billion barrier at the end of the third quarter.
Within the company's management structure, Marcel Hess became the CEO and Beat Thoma joined the Executive Management. At the organisational level, various measures were taken to make it possible to successfully master the growing demands.
In marketing, the main event of note was the roadshow for the FISCH Bond Value Fund in the second half of the year. The launch of this fund, scheduled for January 2006, will represent an important further step in the development of FAM's product range.
And finally, we were also active at the research level – a decisive factor for our long-term prospects. For example, together with Nuclear Finance we developed a prototype of a portfolio optimizer that calculates various risk measures and takes into account asymmetric distributions. In addition, we are constructing a genetic algorithm to enable us to identify the most promising portfolio weightings. Our successful research, which yields new and improved tools to support the asset management process, is an important element of our efforts to achieve above-average performance in the future.
2004
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2004 flew by at breakneck speed. A great deal of work and many projects kept us moving along. In the year of FAM's 10th anniversary, assets under management developed quite favorably. Early in the year we managed to surpass the billion CHF hurdle.
Three new colleagues joined us. Andy Gehrig supports the IT team in handling its ever-growing workload. Various systems came into being precisely in this sector in 2004 that simplify the daily work of the asset managers and the back office as well as notably accentuate our technology leadership in managing convertible bonds.
Maria Vogt takes charge of customer care.
In addition, in August Thiemo Fisch began an apprenticeship with us. We decided to take this step because it allows us to give something back to the community and represents a constructive challenge for a company such as ours.
For a limited time in 2004, we also employed a recent university graduate (Benchmarkstudie) and a current university student (thesis, risk management).
To underscore our ambitions regarding analytical and know-how leadership, we began working together in 2004 with Nuclear Finance, a mathematics spinoff of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), and with the ETH itself. We are convinced that thanks to such partnerships, we will be able to make a number of very valuable contributions to the field of asset management in the years ahead.
2004 we established our own semiautonomous pension fund.
2003
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Coinciding with the end of the bear market for stocks, we introduced currency hedged classes in March for the two public funds International Convertible Expert Fund and Hybrid International Fund. This enables our clients to now choose and switch between currency hedged and unhedged classes free of charge.
The introduction of the new corporate design represented an important step in 2003. It was not so easy for everyone to give up the well-liked but well-worn logo. Under the leadership of a professional design team, we created a new logo that is intended to convey our know-how based technology leadership in the field of professional convertibles management. At the same time as the new logo, we constructed a completely new website aimed at meeting high standards in terms of design and information content.
The mood within an asset management boutique obviously also depends on the conditions in the financial markets and on the inflow of new assets. Both developed very favorably in 2003. Also worth mentioning in this connection was a fantastic, two-day golf outing to Gstaad and Interlaken with our clients.
2002
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2002 turned out to be an extremely difficult year for asset management. But despite this backdrop, our public investment funds and mandates performed very successfully. They were among the top performing convertible funds.
In August BayernInvest Munich launched the BayernLB Convertible Bond Fonds. The experts for institutional asset management within the BayernLB group selected us as the external manager for their convertible bond fund in Luxembourg.
Even in this difficult environment, we succeeded in boosting the assets under management. Since risk had once more become an important factor for investors, there was a renewed widespread interest in convertible bonds, from which we benefited
We underscored our belief in BlueSky Softworks by buying the 35% stake held by a pension fund. FAM thus now holds 70% of this software company.
2001
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In 2001, the efforts of the enlarged team and the increased client acquisition activities began to show initial results. The assets climbed to nearly CHF 700 million, and the client base was expanded notably. Apart from this, an additional fund managed by FAM was launched in January (LLB TOPportunities Invest). During the course of the year, two more employees joined FAM in the areas of client acquisition (Roland Hotz) and marketing (Stefanie Glaser). The resulting need for new office space spurred FAM's move to Gartenstrasse 19 in the month of May. Early in the year, a step of major long-term significance was also undertaken: FAM's management bought back the 50% stake held by Swisspartners Investment Network since 1994, thus giving management 100% ownership of FAM.
2000
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In summer 2000 we launched the Japan CB Fund (Equity Sensitive). This convertible bond fund tries to outperform the two best known japanese stock indices (Nikkei 225/TOPIX). By the end of 2000, the assets under management reached CHF 421 million.
1999
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1999 was a decisive year. In its first 4 1/2 years, FAM concentrated almost exclusively on the management of the existing products. With the objective of pursuing pension funds as a new target customer group, the decision was made to build up the client acquisition and marketing areas. In addition to this, a strategically important step was taken: FAM decided to focus 100% of its capacity on successfully expanding its activities in the convertibles area. From mid-1999 to early 2000, the number of employees grew from 4 to 9 people. FAM became a different company.
The reinforcements came in the areas of asset management (Beat Thoma), client acquisition (Dieter Höfemeier, Claude Jeanneret), the Internet (Marco Aschwanden) and secretarial services (Cornelia Höhn). Moreover, two new funds specially tailored to pension funds were launched around the end of 1999 (Hybrid CHF and Hybrid International). This laid the foundation for marked expansion of the client base as well as the assets under management. At the same time, FAM moved into offices suitable for the new number of employees.
1996 - 1998
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Already in 1996, FAM developed a special software program for convertibles that enabled the firm to carry out all detailed analyses also at the portfolio level. Furthermore, FAM was among the first companies in Switzerland to launch a website on the Internet. The assets developed as follows: CHF 198 million in 1997, CHF 238 million in 1998 and CHF 340 million in 1999.
The team grew into a close-knit family over the years. It is also worth mentioning the annual business weekends, which turned into memorable three-day golfing competitions and provided unforgettable experiences within the FAM family.
1995
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Marcel Hess joined FAM in 1995 and, with the International Convertible Expert Fund, started the first Luxembourg-based convertible fund that was also officially approved for public sale in Switzerland and Germany. By the end of the year, the assets under management reached CHF 75 million. In the following year, the assets rose to CHF 127 million, and a software specialist named Bilgi Sakarya was welcomed to the team. This small group of professionals remained unchanged over the next three years.
1994
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Fisch Asset Management (FAM) opened its doors in the summer of 1994 as a manager for institutional clients (portfolio managers, banks, insurers) in the two niche markets of convertibles and non-traditional investments. Kurt and Pius Fisch moved into a tiny office on the premises of portfolio manager Swisspartners Investment Network AG, which simultaneously became FAM's first client and a shareholder with a 50% stake. Two investment companies were established in mid-July: Annapurna I Convertible Ltd. (CBs worldwide) and Pike Global Hedge Ltd. (fund of funds in the non-traditional segment). And by August, with these two companies FAM had CHF 18.9 million worth of assets under management. FAM managed to end the year with assets of CHF 22.2 million and in the black.